Brandon Arrington Jr., Servite Boys Chasing More Records; Fontenot Siblings and Herbst Twins Set For Another Show; California's Top Preps Prepare for Postseason

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Ken Martinez photos

In the aftermath of the Arcadia Invitational, California's top preps will make the quick turnaround and head east a few miles to compete at the 65th Mt. SAC Relays April 19 at Hilmer Lodge Stadium.

WATCH LIVE WEBCAST ON RUNNERSPACE+

Here are 10 storylines to follow.

Brandon Arrington Jr. Back For More

Jane Hedengren may have stolen the show at the Arcadia Invitational on the distance side, but it was Brandon Arrington Jr. who lit up the sprints.

The junior from Mt. Miguel CA swept both the boys 100 and 200 races, including lowering Noah Lyles’ meet record 20.48 to 20.35 to stamp an exclamation on his night.

Arrington Jr. is entered in both the 100 and 200, again, this weekend. He won last year’s 200 and finished second in the 100.

The Mt. SAC Relays high school meet record in the 100 is 10.27 by Michael Norman and in the 200 is 20.86 by Nickolas Miller.

Top California talents such as Servite’s Benjamin Harris and Bishop Alemany’s Demare Dezeurn are entered in both the 100 and 200 and Oak Hills’ Quran Clayton in the 100 to challenge Arrington Jr.

Servite and Rosary look to continue relay dominance

It won’t take long for the country to wait and see the relay talents of Servite CA and Rosary CA following their record-breaking performances at the Arcadia Invitational.

After breaking both the California state records in the 4x100 (40.00) and 4x200 (1:23.88) and winning the 4x400 at the Arcadia Invitational on April 11-12, the youthful Servite boys will feature all three teams at Mt. SAC, eyeing another sweep of the relays. Freshman stars Jaelen Hunter and Jorden Wells ran on all three relay teams.

Servite’s sister school, Rosary, is entered in both the girls 4x200 and 4x100. Rosary won the 4x100 and 800 meter sprint medley relay at Arcadia.

Hurdling Fontenots 

Anisa Bowen-Fontenot and Jasir Fontenot, the fastest sister and brother hurdle duo in the country, continued their incredible success this last weekend at the Arcadia Invitatioal, with Anisa winning the girls 100 hurdles and Jasir finishing second in the 110 hurdles.

Both are entered in the short hurdles and 300 hurdles at Mt. SAC, aiming for a family sweep of all four races.

Anisa will be the overwhelming favorite in the girls 100 hurdles, owning the top time in the country in the 100 hurdles at  13.16. She is also second in California in the 300 hurdles, running 41.26.

Jasir is hoping to get back into the win column after finishing second to Highland ID’s Spencer Van Orden in the 110 hurdles at Arcadia. He will race William Isaiah Bright of Murrieta Mesa CA in the 110s and California’s top 300 hurdler, Brandon Andrade of Etiwanda.

Herbst Twins Rolling With Momentum

Two different outcomes, but two positive results at the Arcadia Invitational for both Makenna and Morgan Herbst show signs of a successful Mt. SAC Relays in the making.

Makenna redeemed a sixth-place finish from 2024 to win the girls invitational 800 meters in 2:05.08.

Morgan, despite finishing second, ran a personal best 40.21 in the girls 300 hurdles invitational race to sustain her No. 1 ranking in California.

Makenna will go for another monumental win in the invitational 800 against New Zealand's Boh Ritchie, whom she beat at Arcadia last weekend by more than a second, and La Jolla CA's Chiara Dailey.

Morgan aims for a bounce-back win in the invitational 300 hurdles, taking on San Diego's Bowen-Fontenot, who she beat by five-hundredths-of-a-second at Arcadia.

Meteoric Rise Of Jack Stadlman 

Jack Stadlman's incredibl improvement in the 400 has been compelling to watch so far this season.

A win at Arcadia last weekend in the boys invitational race has added to his much-improved resume. showing he is among the nation's best in the event.

This weekend at Mt. SAC, he's testing his range, entering the 100 and 200.

Stadlman's ran 21.10 in the 200 this spring, ranking him third in California behind Arrington Jr. and Harris. He will race both of them this weekend in a matchup of California's top three racers.

He's also posted a 10.54 time in the 100, which ranks outside the top 15 for California athletes. Stadlman will attempt to lower that time when he races Dezuren in the invitational section.

Cole Or Wright; Who's Faster?

Journey Cole and Keelan Wright are two of California's top sprinters.

Cole of Redondo Union is first in the 100; Wright of Chaparral is first in the 200.

Both showed their strengths last weekend at Arcadia when they beat each other head-to-head in the 100 and 200 invitational races. Cole ran 11.36 in the 100 to Wright's 11.53, and Wright ran 23.68 to Cole's 24.22.

Cole and Wright are the co-favorites this weekend between the 100 and 200 races.

Begs the question: who has the better chance of sweeping?

Post-Arcadia Speed Test

Some of the athletes who either ran the 3,200 or 2-mile last weekend at Arcadia are scheduled to appear in the mile at Mt. SAC.

Trabuco Hills CA's Holly Barker, South Pasadena CA's Abigail Errington and Arcadia CA's Charlotte Hopkins, top 10 finishers in the girls invitational 2-mile, are the top entries in the girls mile. Barker owns the fastest personal best time of 4:53.33 .

La Canada CA's Maya de Brouwer, Crescenta Valley CA's Kaitlin Kenney and Yorba Linda CA's Isabella Wroblewski are three other names to watch for in the girls race.

In the boys invitational race, Desert Oasis CA's Kenan Dagge, 14th in the boys 3,200 at Arcadia, is the early favorite.

Thrower McKay Madsen Heavy Favorite

McKay Madsen doesn't have to prove he's the best thrower in California; his numbers speak for themselves.

But after finishing second in discus and fifth in shot put at Arcadia, the Clovis North CA senior would like to get back into the win column, especially after seeing his unbeaten streaks in both events be put to a stop.

Madsen will be an overwhelming favorite in both the boys shot put and discus invitational sections. In shot put, his best mark this season is six feet farther than his next competitor, Redondo Union's Bo Ausmus. In discus, he's over 19 feet ahead of Yucaipa CA's Benjamin Lingenfelter.

Madsen won last year's Mt. SAC discus title, throwing 183-3, and finished third in the shot put, with 58-11.25. In 2025, he's already thrown 65-8 in shot put and 211-6 in discus.

Rematch In The Ring

Californians Aja Johnson of Notre Dame and Jaslene Massey of Aliso Niguel split their head-to-head matchups in the discus and shot put last weekend at Arcadia. Will it happen again?

Massey was one short throw away from losing the girls shot put final, but a sixth-round throw of 48-9.50 overtook Johnson by eight and a half- nches to capture the win at Arcadia and continue her undefeated season streak. That was Johnson’s first loss of the season in shot put.

Hours later in the evening, Johnson managed to get back at Massey, throwing the discus 159-1, a personal best to win by almost two feet. Both girls have two losses this season in discus.

For the second weekend in a row and the second time this season, both Johnson and Massey are entered in those two events at the same meet.

Herriman's Distance Depth

The prep running scene in Utah has become prominent around the U.S. in part due to what Herriman has accomplished over the past couple of years.

The Mustangs are scheduled to show not just talent in the individual races, but depth in the distance relay races. The boys will go after wins in a variety of distance relays: the 4x1,600 and distance medley relay races, plus A and B teams in the  4x800 relay, while the girls will feature two relay teams in the DMR.

The only other schools with multiple relay squads in race are Santiago (Corona) CA in the girls 4x1,600 relay and Harvard Westlake CA in the boys DMR.